By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: When “Law & Order: Los Angeles” returns to the airwaves in April, the NBC crime drama will feature a two-hour episode containing subject matter that hits very close to home for the entertainment community.
THR reports that an upcoming episode “may be loosely based on the murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen,” co-starring Jobeth Williams and Jeff Fahey. Though “L&O” returns on April 11, no airdate has been set for the Chasen episode, which is filming right now and currently is entitled “Benedict Canyon.”
The plot of the Chasen episode, according to THR, centers on “the murder of a Hollywood stylist in what appears to be a random robbery gone bad. But, the team soon learns that it was a murder for hire, with dark family secrets from the past as the motive for the killing.”
These shows usually rip their storylines from recent headlines. But is it too soon to tackle the Chasen case? Will the “L&O” team handle it sensitively? It will be a fine line to balance if they want to stay respectful to the late publicist’s memory.
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By Scott Mendelson
HollywoodNews.com: It is easy to dismiss the angry political threads running through Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete.” While it’s easy to simply say that ‘it’s just a comedic throwback to the exploitation films of the 1970s’, one must remember that those films did indeed tackle the political and social issues of the day. Whether by coincidence or design, the film ends up being an uncommonly timely glance at one of the major political hot-button topics of the day. Because it is a violent action picture, it resolves its specific issues with confrontation and carnage, and it eventually becomes a form of wish-fulfillment fantasy. But in an age where we constantly complain of empty-headed mainstream entertainment, it is a disservice to both the film and to our own desire for relevant mainstream film-making to ignore the fiery conscience at the heart of this over-the-top piece of Mexican myth-making.
A token amount of plot: ‘Machete’ (Danny Trejo) was once a dedicated federale, enforcing Mexican law when no one else would. However, he was betrayed by his own people, resulting in the slaughter of his family by drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal). Three years later, Machete finds himself in Texas and is almost immediately recruited by one Mr. Booth (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate stridently anti-immigration Senator McLaughlin (Robert DeNiro). However, the job is a set-up and Machete soon finds himself on the run. As he sets forth to find out why he was set up and how the plot may tie into his past, he is assisted by Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), a taco stand operator who is secretly the head of an ‘underground railroad’-type operation for illegals crossing into America. And his exploits attract the attention of a sympathetic immigration officer (Jessica Alba), and the head of a vigilante border-watch group (Don Johnson), who has explicit ties to the senator.
As you can see, this is a pretty huge cast (I even left off a few), and most of them adapt themselves well to the straight-faced satire. Danny Trejo of course dominates as a man of few words but many creative ways to kill you. De Niro simply plays it straight, never winking at or apologizing for the hateful rhetoric and coming up with one of his better dramatic performances in quite a while. Michelle Rodriguez relishes the chance to play a more fleshed-out variation on her ‘tough chick’ persona, while Jeff Fahey merely relishes […]

By Anthony D’Alessandro
HollywoodNews.com: FILM REVIEW — If there was a classroom full of action directors, such as Michael Bay, Gore Verbinski and McG, Robert Rodriguez would be that rascal who would take them hostage, rap their knuckles with a ruler and stick their noses in a corner.
What would Rodriguez inculcate? How to make an efficient, hyper-kinetic edited, voluptuous action film, employing the most zealous dramatic ensemble.
To fault Rodriguez for his campy, snuff-inspired shoot-em ups would be like shortchanging John Woo’s talents for executing chopsocky ballet or Martin Scorsese’s overindulgence in Italian-Catholic symbolism.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE “MACHETE” SLIDESHOW
Much like those guys whose cinema is beholden to their heritage, Rodriguez’s actioners, like a rich Sopaipilla drowned in honey, are drenched in sexy melodrama, exploitative action and South of the Border mythos.
So comes his Mexican Rambo film “Machete,” which he co-directed with his rhythmic editor Ethan Maniquis from “Grindhouse.” And while “Machete” is arguably the best action film of the summer, sniping “Salt” in its twists and kicking Adam McKay’s “The Other Guys” in the cajones with its comedy, the film wears its pro-Mexican Immigration message heavily on its sleeve — a bold agenda that is apt to divide action aficionados at the box office: Red state testosterones are apt to walk out while blue state arthouse crowds will savor the ride.
While the knife-wielding ex-Mexican Federale “Machete” is more or less a cinematic cousin to Rodriguez’s “Mariachi” and “Desperado” protag assassins (in fact Rodriguez originally conceived the character during the shoot of the latter film, not the “Grindhouse” faux trailer), it’s the film’s overt political soap box which makes “Machete” a more intelligible ride than its steel barrel predecessors. Sylvester Stallone’s pro-America speech at the end of “Rambo” seems mousy next to the social message which Rodriguez and Maniquis drum about U.S.-Mexico border corruption. The duo play out the drama effectively down to the final moment when Machete (the fierce, somber Danny Trejo) is pulled over by Jessica Alba’s ICE agent Sartana: Instead of handing her his papers, Sartana gives Machete a set of his own.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE “MACHETE” SLIDESHOW
After watching his wife get beheaded by the drug lord Torrez (a hammy Steven Seagal) in an ambush sting, master of knives Machete retreats to Austin, Texas where he gets by as a day laborer. He is befriended […]

HollywoodNews.com: Is Fox’s “Wolverine” spinoff “Deadpool” in limbo?
The studio really wants Robert Rodriguez to direct – a good sign indicating that they’re happy with his cut of his exploitation actioner “Machete” due out on Friday.
However, there isn’t a window when Rodriguez and “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds are available.
News comes per Deadline and Collider.
Rodriguez is due to helm “Spy Kids 4” next. Reynolds is occupied with a number of other features including the Denzel Washington thriller “Safe House” and a Bradley Cooper buddy-cop action comedy.
“If they push it (‘Deadpool’) back, it would be a lot better for me,” Rodriguez tells Deadline.
Rodriguez’ “Machete” boasts an all-star cast including Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Jeff Fahey and Robert De Niro.
Audiences overall typically shell out more for Rodriguez’ “Spy Kids” installments over his high-octane action fare.
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Photo Credit: Splash
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HollywoodNews.com: With ‘Lost’ coming to a close, the characters you’ve grown to love are going to be moving on to other things.
Actor Jeff Fahey has just been cast to star in the small-town comedy “Dadgum, Texas” by Charles Huddleston. Principal photography is underway in a small town outside Austin and the film is set to be released next year.
“Dadgum” stars Michele Martin as Jennie Lee “Baby” Magee, a young woman “fixin’ to get herself hitched,” and Martin Morales as her flamboyant wedding designer, Sanchez Horowitz. Jennie Lee’s happiest day before the happiest day of her life is progressively and hilariously destroyed when she finds out the perfect life she thought she had was a lie and the wedding dress store is held up by two bumbling bandits. Fahey plays Jennie Lee’s proud father and the mayor of the small town of Dadgum. Jennie Lee’s mother, oblivious to the insanity around her and obsessed with planning a perfect wedding, is played by Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, who starred opposite Chevy Chase in the comedy classic “Fletch” and appears regularly on “Friday Night Lights.”
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Birdman" and "Boyhood," two of the front-runners for Hollywood's film honors this year, were nominated along with a slew of small movies on Monday for the top Producers Guild Award, a reliable predictor of the best picture Oscar.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broadway had its best-attended and highest grossing calendar year in 2014 with 13.1 million people seeing shows that brought in $1.36 billion, according to figures released on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The last of Peter Jackson's three "Hobbit" films rode to a third straight weekend atop box office charts, selling an estimated $21.9 million in tickets at U.S. and Canadian theaters.